Ah, games - and BOARDgames. I'm the worst with them but still addicted - yea, from the days of "Strategy & Tactics" in the 60s-70s. The problems are always (a) time to find to play; (b) people who would even consider playing or might even at some level sort-of enjoy playing; (c) all the frustrations of losing, losing, losing. Well - I once won Risk. Sort of.

My Civ experience is mostly with old, old Civ2. I own Civ3 but never found it as engaging as the other. And then, not long ago, I bought Rome Total War - but I have yet to really get the hang of that, promising as it is.

But as to CivCity:Rome - I haven't seen this one yet. You'll have to tell me about it....

And I think you're right - if there's ever a SVR get-together, some board-strife might well be in order.

Best Buy was sold out of CivCity, so I bought Civ3 Complete Edition and have been playing a little with that. I miss the Civ2 interface big time.

Iohannes, since you are on the NR mainlist, you might check the file library and see if the Nova Roma Civ2 Scenario is still there. It is six years old, but you may be able to play it. Basically, it was the Roman Empire divided into factions, each faction headed by a prominent NR member at the time it was created. The Partian Empire is there as well as a Barbarian Union, both dedicvated to destroying Rome.

There is a newer game called Imperium Romanum, which according the the reviews you should avoid at all costs, Lousy game, and it crashes the computer. Another new game is Europa Universalis: Rome, which is also a dissapointment according the the reviews.

I have also seen a Civ-type game called Rise of Nations. Anyone else see this?

Lupinii, I too felt that the Civ3 interface was inferior to the low-visual-tech Civ2 interface; in my case, it's probably a case of being a bit slow where games are concerned. While Civ2 was not the perfect game, it was both user-friendly and allowed a lot of mods and so on. Of course, I'm prejudiced in its favor.

I'll look for that NR scenario! Sounds like fun. Heck, if anyone of us were retro enough, we could play by email on that one.

Last night I was relaxing with the Civ3 Editor and downloaded a large world map. Aided by a detailed map of the empire under trajan, I started placing Roman cities on it, and an idea for two scenario games came to mind.

One is a standard Civ3 game where you adminsiter a large Roman Empire and engage in trade, diplomacy, and maybe launch a spaceship towards the end.

The second idea is an SVR scenario which would be a challenge. The goal of the SVR scenario is survival. But the working title of the scenario is "The New Aeneas". Here is the background:
The Roman Empire was in bad shape and decline. An energetic and inspiring leader named ______ secured support of the army and the populace and became emperor. As emperor, he brought stability and order, but soon became the worst tyrant the world had known.

A few cities revolted, and were ruthlessly destroyed. Refugees fleeing the burned cities are organized by Draco as the SVR, and they set sail to find a new homeland. The game opens with the SVR Romans having only ships. settler and worker units. The goal is to get these survivors to a new land where they can build a home and survive a world populated not only by the Roman Empire, but Maya, Chinese, Indians, and various other civilizations.

I played a Roman themed boardgame called "Colosseum" a while back. The object of the game is to collect items (animals, boats, gladiators) in order to host games. The player who can host the most expensive games earns the most points. You can also build and upgrade arenas, and if a Caesar or consul pawn attends (these move around the board) your show, you get extra points. It's fun but it does have some problems.

As for computer games I used to be addicted to Caesar III. The trick is to find the optimal housing pattern which maximizes the access to water and minimizes the roads required to supply the houses with goods. This was my ideal layout, with F=fountain, P=prefecture, E=engineer and B=barber:

But it doesn't work in dry/desert climates because fountain access is more restricted there.

I have started playing with the MapEdit feature on Civ3 Complete Edition to create a possible SVR game. I'll let you know how it goes. So far, when I have played Civ3, it seems that the other computer controlled civs do not fight each other much.

The idea for this scenario if it works will be along the lines I suggested earlier: You the player are the leader of Roman Exiles who seek to secure a new home. The Roman Empire is still out to destroy you if they find you, so you will have to survive by making friends with other Civilizations.

This scenario bilder does not come with an instruction manual, so I am trying to learn this by doing...

Marce Lupinii - I tried to put your SVR Scenarion to work but we've been sabotaged by game-version differences. My Civ3 game only takes scenarios in .bic and .bix format, while yours is in the form of a .biq file. I tried re-naming, no go. Dang.

I saw Rise Of Nations in an Office Depot store, and it looked like a Civ coo cat game, but when I looked it up I saw good comments about it. What nations are available besides Rome? And can you create scenarios with it?

Also, I read somewhere that a deal has been signed to begin development of Civ5.

Iohannes, maybe I should have created the SVR scenario with ust Civ3 alone so it would be plaable on any version. I did it with the Conquest builder because I wanted to have a Byzantine Empire in the game as well. Plus you can have some more South American civs.

Now, for a non-Roman theme: I found a program which allows me to play my Red Baron 3D on a faster machine. If you download the customized graphics and scenery it sometimes ooks almost photographic. RB3d is pretty much passe now, but I like it.

I saw Rise Of Nations in an Office Depot store, and it looked like a Civ coo cat game, but when I looked it up I saw good comments about it. What nations are available besides Rome? And can you create scenarios with it?

All major nations:

Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Russians, Aztecs, Incans, Spanish, Germans, British, Bantu, Nubians, French, hrm, I might be missing some. Romans, Greeks, and Egyptians are ancient only, Chinese spans quite some years, Japanese and Koreans are early to middle modern, Nubians are also ancient, Aztec and Incas are 15th-16th cent., Russians, Spanish, Germans, British, and French are medieval to modern. There are scenarios, and I think I recall being able to create scenarios as well (WWII Blitzkreig, etc.. etc...)

I recently tried playing Europa Universalis: Rome, but I'm having a hard to figuring out the war controls. I'm doing something wrong, and I don't think the tutorial was thorough enough...

I've got Civ IV(Beyond the Sword), I likes it a lot. I'm currently the leader of the Vikings, hehe. For Romans they've got a choice between Julius and Augustus Caesar. Thye also got the Holy Roman Empire, with Charlemagne as the leader, hehe.

I've also got Rome Total War, with the Barbarian Expansion. Haven't played it as much though.

If anyone wants to play a game with me, let me know. I'm quitting WoW(lack of fundage) so I'll have more time for these games. We should do Julius VS Augustus, haha!